Created by the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium. 1 www.civics.org. To Secede or Not to Secede: Events Leading to the Civil War hinson@sog.unc.edu, http://www.civics.unc.edu/resources/docs/SecessionPowerPoint.pdf

1. To Secede or
Not to Secede
Power Point accompaniment for the Consortium’s lesson “To
Secede or Not to Secede: Events Leading to the Civil War”
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request to hinson@sog.unc.edu

2. Northern Goals vs. Southern Goals
 After the Louisiana Purchase (1803), both the North & South
wanted the acquired western land to benefit their sectional
interests.
Northern Goals Southern Goals
Continue to develop manufacturing Expand agriculture (such as cotton
jobs and trade, which do not depend and other cash crops), which does
on enslaved workers depend on enslaved workers
Pass laws to promote trade and Pass laws to protect slavery and
growth of factories growth of agriculture
Make sure new Western votes in Make sure new Western votes in
Congress are for Northern interests Congress are for Southern interests by
by not allowing slavery in new allowing slavery in new territories
territories

3. A Balancing Act to Keep the Union…
 Different views regarding slavery and states’ rights led to
constant disagreements through out the pre-Civil War years.
In an attempt to appease both sides, Congress began to make
various legislative compromises. Why do you think they did
this?
 What can be difficult about compromising?
 What can be effective about compromising?

4. Compromises regarding slavery begin…
 Passed by the Continental
Congress, this ordinance created
the Northwest Territory and
banned slavery north and west of
the Ohio River.
 Few Southerners protested this
ordinance because they were more
concerned about laws affecting
states that were south of the Ohio
River and north of Florida.
 This ordinance set the stage for the
balancing act between free and
slave states.
Northwest Ordinance, 1787

5. Missouri Compromise, 1820
 When Missouri applied for statehood, Congress had to confront the
issue of whether to let slavery spread into the territories.
 The goal of this compromise was to keep the balance of power
between slave and free states by admitting Maine to the Union as a
free state and Missouri as a slave state.
 Additionally, to prevent future arguments over the Louisiana
Territory, an imaginary east-west line was drawn at the southern
boundary of Missouri that said any new state north of the line
would be a free state and any new state south of the line would be
a slave state.
 However, many observers, such as Thomas Jefferson, predicted that
the division of the country created by the Compromise line would
eventually lead to the destruction of the Union.

7. Other Debates on the Issue of Slavery:
Congress Passes the “Gag Rule”
 In 1834 the American Anti-Slavery Society began an antislavery petition
drive. In 1837—38 alone, abolitionists sent more than 130,000 petitions to
Congress asking for the abolition of slavery in Washington, DC.
 As antislavery opponents became more insistent, Southern members of
Congress were increasingly adamant in their defense of slavery.
 In May of 1836 the House passed a “gag rule,” a resolution that
automatically "tabled," or postponed action on all petitions relating to
slavery without hearing them.
 At first, only a small group of congressmen, led by Representative John
Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, opposed the rule. As antislavery
sentiment in the North grew however, more Northern congressmen
supported Adams’s argument that, whatever one’s view
on slavery, stifling the right to petition was wrong.
 In 1844 the House rescinded the gag rule on a motion
made by John Quincy Adams.

8. Compromise of 1850
 A series of laws that attempted to resolve conflict between
the northern and southern states. In the Compromise…
◦ California was admitted as a free state
◦ New Mexico and Utah were allowed to decide their own
slavery laws
◦ The slave trade (buying and selling enslaved Africans) was
abolished in Washington DC
◦ and the Fugitive Slave Law passed.
 The Compromise did not satisfy any side completely.

10. The Fugitive Slave Act/Law
 Passed by Congress on September
18, 1850, as part of the
Compromise of 1850
 Declared that all runaway slaves be
brought back to their masters.
 Abolitionists nicknamed it the
"Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that
were used to track down runaway
slaves.
 If you were a slave who escaped to
the North, how might this law
impact you?

11. Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
 This act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska,
allowing the settlers to decide whether to have slavery
(popular sovereignty)
◦ This decision angered Northerners, who thought these
territories should be free states because of the Missouri
Compromise.
◦ Southerners responded by arguing that the Compromise of
1850 replaced the Missouri Compromise.
 Both sides were upset and the stage was set for Civil War.

13. “Bleeding Kansas”
 Things worked out as
anticipated in Nebraska, but
not in Kansas.
 Violent hostilities erupted
between pro and antislavery
forces in the Kansas territory
during the mid and late
1850s.
 Also known as the “Border
War,” the violent events that
took place are often regarded
as the opening shots of the
Civil War.

14. The Courts Grapple with Slavery:
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857
 Dred Scott was born a slave in Virginia around 1799.
◦ In 1834, a man named Dr. Emerson bought Dred Scott and they moved to Illinois, a free
state.
◦ In 1836, they moved to Minnesota, also free state.
◦ There, Scott married another slave named Harriet.
◦ In 1838, the Emersons and the Scotts moved to Missouri, a slave state.
◦ In 1843, Dr. Emerson died, leaving his wife possession of the Scotts.
 Dred Scott sued Mrs. Emerson. He claimed that he was no
longer a slave because he had become free when he lived
in a free state.
 The jury decided that Scott and his family should be free.
 The Emersons did not like the decision and appealed to the Missouri
Supreme Court in 1852. That court said that Missouri does not have to
follow the laws of another state. As a slave state, Missouri's laws meant
that Scott and his family were not free.
 Do you feel that the Missouri Supreme Court made the right decision? Why
or why not?

15. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857
 Sanford moved to New York and left the Scotts in Missouri. Scott
sued Sanford again in a federal court. Federal courts decide cases
where the citizens live in different states.
 In 1854, the U.S. Court for the District of Missouri heard the case.
Sanford won the case and Scott then appealed to the Supreme Court
of the United States, the highest court in the country.
 When the case came to the Supreme Court of the United States, the
country was in deep conflict over slavery. In the past, some slaves
had successfully sued their owners for freedom. However, by the
1850's, many states were hardening their positions on slavery,
making such cases more difficult to win. It would not be long before
the country was in a civil war over the issue of slavery.
 How do you predict the Supreme Court decided in this case?

16. Dred Scott v. Sandford-
Final Ruling of the US Supreme Court
 In a harsh decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that people of
African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves,
or their descendants—whether or not they were slaves—were not
protected by the Constitution and could never be citizens of the
United States.
 It also held that the US Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery
in federal territories.
 The Court also ruled that because slaves were not citizens, they
could not sue in court.
 Lastly, the Court ruled that slaves—as private property—could not be
taken away from their owners without due process.

17.  Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act,
Abraham Lincoln began attacking the legislation and
its author, Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois.
 When Douglas ran for reelection in 1858, Lincoln
opposed him in Illinois. Douglas won that election,
but the seven Lincoln-Douglass Debates they held across Illinois
were mentioned in newspapers around the country, raising
Lincoln’s political profile.
 In late 1859, Lincoln was invited to give a speech in New York City in
which he denounced slavery. The speech was a triumph and made
Lincoln a political star.
 Lincoln’s ambition to become undisputed leader of the Republicans
in Illinois began to evolve into a desire to run for the Republican
nomination for president in the 1860 election.
The Election of Abraham Lincoln

18. The Election of Abraham Lincoln
 Unlike presidential elections today, between the time of Lincoln’s
nomination and the actual election, he had little to do.
◦ Members of their party held rallies and torchlight parades, but such public displays were
considered beneath the dignity of the candidates.
◦ Lincoln did appear at one rally in Springfield, Illinois in August. He was mobbed by an
enthusiastic crowd and was lucky not to have been injured.
 Running against Lincoln on the Democrat ticket was Senator
Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckenridge.
 The presidential election was held on November 6, 1860.
 Lincoln did very well in the northern states, and though he garnered
less than 40 percent of the popular vote, he won a landslide victory
in the electoral college.
 Ominously, Lincoln did not carry any southern states.

19. The Election of Abraham Lincoln
 How do you think the Southern states will respond to the
election of Abraham Lincoln?
Lincoln declared, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I
believe this government cannot last forever, half slave and half
free. I do not
expect the house
to fall-but I do
expect it will cease
to be divided.”
What message is
Lincoln conveying?

20. North Carolinians Debate Secession
 Catherine Edmondston
Daughter of a wealthy eastern NC planter;married a planter in 1846 &
settled on a plantation in hjalifax County, NC, where she was living in
1860
 William A. Graham
Held a number of prominent positions in NC prior to 1860, including
governor of NC, US senator, and secretary of the navy. He owned several
plantations worked by slave labor.
 John W. Ellis Based on this bit of information
Governor of NC from 1858-1861 provided about each person, how
 Zebulon B. Vance would you predict he/she feels
about secession and why?
Serving in US Congress in 1860
 Jonathan Worth As your classmates read excerpts in
these people’s own words, be
State senator in 1861
prepared to summarize their views
on secession.

21. What decision did NC make?
An ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of North Carolina and the
other states united with her under the compact of government entitled the
Constitution of the United States.
We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in Convention
assembled, do declare and ordain…That the ordinance adopted by the State of
North Carolina in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Constitution of the
United States was ratified and adopted, and also, all acts and parts of acts of the
General Assembly, ratifying and adopting amendments to the said
Constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.
We do further declare and ordain, That the union now subsisting
between the State of North Carolina and the other States under the title of the
United States of America, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North
Carolina is in the full possession and exercise of all those
rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free
and independent State. Ratified the 20th day of May, 1861.

22. The Southern States Secede
 During Lincoln’s campaign, Southern states, due to their fear
of a ban on slavery, warned they would secede if Lincoln won.
 Thus, on December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first
state to secede from the “Union.”
 Shortly after, the other southern states followed to join the
newly formed Confederate States of America, with Jefferson
Davis as their recognized president.
 North Carolina was the last Southern state to secede on May
20, 1861.

24. The Civil War Begins:
The Battle at Fort Sumter
 The nation wondered how President Lincoln would handle the
secession of the southern states, which he viewed as illegal.
 His response came in April 1861, when Confederate South
Carolina soldiers fired on federal troops stationed at Fort
Sumter in Charleston.
 Upon hearing this news, Lincoln
telegraphed each of the states
that remained in the Union
requesting that they supply the
United States Army with troops.
 The Civil War had officially begun.
 In your opinion, did Lincoln make
the right decision? Why or why not?